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Scenarios again raise issues of density, inclusiveness

By Cassa Niedringhaus

Staff Writer

Posted:
02/16/2019 12:00:35 PM MST

Updated:
02/16/2019 05:18:55 PM MST

Kathleen Hancock stands outside the Boulder Community Health building on Balsam Street on Friday morning. Hancock is one of the main organizers of a neighborhood group opposing redevelopment of the site as it has been proposed so far. Among their main objections is high-density housing. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

As the Alpine-Balsam redevelopment project at the former Boulder Community Health hospital campus west of Broadway moves forward, a group of neighbors has organized to speak out about the project.

"This is nothing new," said Leonard May, a neighbor and PLAN-Boulder County board member. "This is pretty typical that processes go on and then when it finally starts to congeal into something a little more tangible, everybody wakes up."

The vision statement for the 8.8 acre site, which the city purchased for $40 million in 2015, outlines a multi-generational hub for community life and local government services, and a new model for equitable, affordable and sustainable living.

"I just want to reiterate how important Alpine-Balsam is as a community investment and a truly incredible opportunity," senior planner Jean Gatza told council on Tuesday. "The redevelopment of this site will be a significant change in the area from that very thriving hospital to a whole new community for all kinds of functions and people."

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Community members providing feedback on the project have expressed both concern about the potential for higher-density housing and its potential ramifications and support for higher-density housing in order to maximize the opportunities in the project, Gatza said.

Kathleen Hancock is one of the main organizers of the neighborhood group opposing the project. In the past two weeks, she said, the group's email list has jumped from 65 to 82, and it growing every day.

The group is not in agreement on all issues but has three main areas of consensus: Members support mixed-use development but don't support high-density housing; they want to see more studies, such as flood and traffic studies, conducted before the project moves forward any further; and they want to ensure neighbors most affected are contacted and heard.

"We're raising a lot of questions that it seems other people have not been raising," Hancock said.

Various neighbors have expressed concern about aspects of possible redevelopment scenarios presented Tuesday, including the density, building height, parking and traffic.

"People are pretty shocked and pretty upset, which is why our group grows every day," Hancock said.

She pushed back against the idea that their group holds "NIMBY" sentiments.

"That's a charged insult," she said. "I would say that a lot of us are supportive of various types of housing. ... There is a general concern about increasing density in our city. To that extent, I don't think it's at all a fair charge. We are asking for a site that's consistent with the neighborhood."

David Adamson, another neighbor and executive director of Goose Creek Community Land Trust, offered an alternative perspective on the redevelopment.

Adamson said he is glad Boulderites care and show up, and he thinks there is an opportunity to both address the fears of the neighbors and find common ground to move forward with plans that emphasize sustainability and equity.

There is a lot of bad development in the Western world, he said, and it's understandable that people are concerned.

"It's ugly. It's dangerous. It's noisy. It's unhealthy. People who are concerned about the new development are right on. They have natural concerns — and, humans are capable of making fantastic habitat for ourselves that's harmonious with the rest of the natural world," he said.

However, he said, the middle class is being priced out of Boulder, and that's the result of city policies far more than the market. A city where only the wealthy can afford to live is neither healthy nor sustainable, he said, and this redevelopment offers a chance for Boulder to advance a transformative project with high community benefit and to position itself as a leader in beautiful development.

"It's just because people like me and other advocates haven't done a good enough job of helping people see a way we can (add) people in a way that doesn't add a lot of noise, pollution and congestion," he said. "It can be done."

Willem van Vliet — a neighbor, University of Colorado professor emeritus, and expert in housing and urban development — in an email said the Alpine-Balsam redevelopment shouldn't be seen as a zero-sum game of neighbors pitted against each other.

Instead, he said, it should be seen as an opportunity to develop creative solutions to address the urgent housing needs for low- and moderate-income households, while at the same time safeguarding and enhancing assets in the surrounding area.

"We need to ask if there (are) other relevant stakeholders," he said, "whose voices need to be heard: young people leaving the community where they grew up because they can't find housing here they can afford. Elders who can't find suitable housing as they age. People with low wages and excessive housing burdens not participating in the public engagement process."

Council on Tuesday was generally supportive of moving forward with an approach that maintains flexibility in the eastern block of the site, as well as housing in the middle and west blocks — though some advocated for lower-density housing than was proposed in the scenarios. Council also was open to exploring the idea of co-location with the county offices on the site.

City staff is hoping, tentatively, to have a draft area plan with refined site scenarios available in mid-March and a final area plan adopted in June, though that schedule is subject to change.

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